Accidents involving Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft may have been 'mere coincidence,' says French pilot.

Taíssa Stivanin (RFI Brazil) - In less than five months, two 737-800 MAX aircraft, a Boeing model that debuted in the skies in 2016, crashed after takeoff, raising questions about the aircraft. The latest accident occurred this Sunday (10), with an Ethiopian Airlines plane, leaving 157 dead.

The Ethiopian airline's plane left the capital Addis Ababa bound for Nairobi, Kenya, at 8:38 AM and crashed six minutes after takeoff. According to initial reports, the pilot reported "difficulties" and requested to turn back and make an emergency landing. In October, an aircraft of the same model, belonging to Lion Air, crashed in Indonesia, killing 189 people.

Experts say that, despite the two accidents happening in a short period of time, it is still too early to draw conclusions about possible technical failures by the manufacturer. In an interview with RFI Brazil, former Air France pilot and aviation consultant Gérard Arnoux said that there is a possibility that the plane had problems maintaining altitude or that there was pilot error, but the proximity of the two accidents could also have been "mere coincidence."

The Boeing 737-800 MAX was improved with an automatic device that prevents stalling. This means there is a possibility that the onboard computer may have induced the pilot to perform the wrong maneuver: "pitching down" the aircraft, that is, pushing the nose of the aircraft down instead of "pitching up," that is, raising the aircraft's pitch after takeoff. In most Boeing models, this function is manual. "But it's still too early to draw conclusions," Arnoux summarized.

According to Ethiopian Airlines, the two black boxes from the aircraft, which contain cockpit recordings and flight parameters, have already been recovered at the crash site in Bishotfu, about 60 kilometers from Addis Ababa. They will, in principle, help clarify the causes of the accident, which led China, Indonesia, and the Ethiopian airline itself to ground their 737-800 MAX fleet.

Boeing will not issue new recommendations.

The American company reported on Monday (11) that the investigation into the causes of the tragedy is in its early stages and there is no need, for now, to issue new recommendations to companies. The twin-engine aircraft is the fourth generation of the 737 family and first flew in 2016. The manufacturer has already received more than 5 orders from airlines around the world, including the Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aéreas.

Since the Lion Air accident, the 737-800 MAX has raised numerous questions in the aerospace sector. According to a report published in the Le Figaro newspaper this Monday (10), the manufacturer had even decided to suspend, in 2017, the tests of the aircraft due to a manufacturing problem with the engine produced by CFM, a subsidiary of the American General Electric and the French Safran.

At the end of January, 350 units of the twin-engine aircraft were delivered to different airlines, equivalent to more than seven years of production. "This model is essential for Boeing in the next decade and represents 64% of the manufacturer's total production until 2032," said Michel Merluzeau, director of the Aerospace & Defence Market Analysis company, in an interview with the French newspaper.

This Sunday, Boeing made a team available to Ethiopian Airlines to investigate the accident. The company's stock plummeted more than 10% on Wall Street this Monday (11), which is considered the biggest loss in 20 years.